Medical Design Briefs - January 2023 - 34

A researcher holds the new remotely controlled
drug-delivery
implant
containing
computer
chiplike
technology. (Credit: Houston Methodist Research
Institute)
dent model to assess its ability to mitigate
microgravity-induced muscular atrophy.
For this current investigation, Grattoni
and his team will test their remotely controlled
implant in an automated experiment
using the Faraday Research Facility
developed by ISS National Lab Commercial
Service Provider ProXopS, LLC. The
implant contains computer chip-like technology
and is immersed in liquid saline to
represent a surrogate animal model. The
researchers will attempt to control the implant
using Bluetooth and a Blackberry device
on Earth to test different frequencies
to determine if the implant can precisely
deliver and adjust doses on command.
The investigation's results will serve as a
critical step toward the implant's future
use in space travelers who may need safe,
automated access to a medication that requires
frequent dosing. For example, a
therapeutic currently being developed
may one day help mitigate the effects of
radiation or prolonged exposure to microgravity
in space.
" Radiation exposure is a limitation for
taking people to Mars, and even the
Moon, " Grattoni says. " Other precautionary
methods are being developed to prevent
radiation exposure, but our device
will be the first that a doctor back on Earth
could use to instantly deliver medication
to treat an exposed astronaut during a
long-term mission. "
Grattoni's team has also designed implants
with multiple reservoirs that allow
different drugs to be dosed simultaneously.
The implant can even be preprogrammed,
facilitating its function when
communications are not possible or delayed
because of distance from Earth.
Eventually, Grattoni says, doctors on Earth
will be able to control drug-delivery implants
wherever patients are located -
from remote locations on Earth to distant
space - using an application on their
smartphone or computer.
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Extrusion Process Enables Synthetic Material Growth
The process allows
researchers to build
better soft robots.
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
An interdisciplinary team of University
of Minnesota Twin Cities scientists
and engineers has developed a first-ofits-kind,
plant-inspired extrusion process
that
enables
synthetic
material
growth.
The new approach will allow
researchers to build better soft robots
that can navigate hard-to-reach places,
complicated terrain, and potentially areas
within the human body.
" This is the first time these concepts
have been fundamentally demonstrated, "
says Chris Ellison, a lead author of
the paper and the Zsolt Rumy Innovation
Chair in the University of Minnesota
Twin Cities department of chemical
engineering and materials science. " Developing
new ways of manufacturing are
paramount for the competitiveness of
our country and for bringing new products
to people. On the robotic side, robots
are being used more and more in
34
The first-of-its-kind, plant-inspired extrusion process enables synthetic material growth. (Credit: University
of Minnesota)
dangerous, remote environments, and
these are the kinds of areas where this
work could have an impact. "
Soft robotics is an emerging field
where robots are made of soft, pliable
materials as opposed to rigid ones. Soft
growing robots can create new material
and grow as they move. These machines
could be used for operations in remote
areas where humans can't go, such as
inspecting or installing tubes underground
or navigating inside the human
body for biomedical applications.
Current soft growing robots drag a
trail of solid material behind them and
can use heat and/or pressure to transform
that material into a more permanent
structure, much like how a 3D
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
printer is fed solid filament to produce
its shaped product. However, the trail of
solid material gets more difficult to pull
around bends and turns, making it hard
for the robots to navigate terrain with
obstacles or winding paths.
The University of Minnesota team
solved this problem by developing
a new means of extrusion, a process
where material is pushed through an
opening to create a specific shape. Using
this new process allows the robot to
create its synthetic material from a liquid
instead of a solid.
" We were really inspired by how plants
and fungi grow, " says Matthew Hausladen,
first author of the paper and a PhD
student in the University of Minnesota
Medical Design Briefs, January 2023

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Medical Design Briefs - January 2023

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